Most Rev. Samuel Mar Irenios was born on 13 May 1952. He hails from Kadamminitta in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala, India, in the Eparchy of Pathanamthitta. His parents are late K. C. Thomas and Annamma. After his High School Education in Kadammanitta, he joined the St. Aloysius Minor Seminary Trivandrum in 1967 and later in Pontifical Seminary in Aluva in 1970. On completing the bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Theology from St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary Aluva, he was ordained priest on 22 December 1978 by Most Rev. Benedict Mar Gregorios.

Thirst for knowledge had led into continuing his studies. So together with his ministry as a zealous priest of Jesus Christ, he completed secular degrees of BA, MA, MPhil and PhD from the University of Kerala. His thesis for Doctorate was on the poetry of Dr. Ayyapppa Panicker, the first ever attempt by a research scholar.

As a faithful priest he was true to his vocation in leading the people of God in spirituality. He travelled a lot giving the Word of God as a zealous missionary as St.Paul. He had been the vicar of more than 20 parishes where he is always remembered as a loving pastor. It is to be remembered that as a young priest he was in the burning streets of Chalai in Trivandrum with the late Archbishop Benedict Mar Gregorios to pacify the communal riots in 1982. In a dreaded situation of violence and devastation he worked effectively among the weapon holders to abandon violence and to come back to peace and amity. He had been the Bursar and a professor in Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum. After being Appointed Lecturer in Mar Ivanios College, he later served as the Principal of St. John’s College Anchal. During his tenure as the principal of the college, the institution achieved multi dimensional growth with the great achievement of making the college suitable for the NAAC accreditation. He retired as the Principal of Mar Ivanios College Trivandrum. From 1979 he served several parishes such as Erathumpamon, Muttathukonam, Pampukala, Vattakarikkam, Kuttichal, Vengode, Manjakala, Kunnapuzha, Kalliyal, Thirumala, Chalai, Palayam, Thiruvallam, Karakulam, Kallayam, Chenckalchoola, Anchal, Thazhamel and Ozhukuparackal as parish priest. He served as the Syncellus of the Major Archieparchy of Trivandum. Languages known are Malayalam, English and Syriac.He was appointed the Auxillary Bishop of the Major Archieparchy of Trivandrum on 25 January 2010. He was ordained a bishop by His Beatitude Baselios Cardinal Cleemis on 13 March 2010.

His Excellency was selected in 2012 for the C. Kesavan Memorial Award instituted by C. kesavan memorial trust. The award was presented by Sri Ommen Chandy, the then Chief Minister of Kerala on July 16, 2012. The ward was to His Excellency for his contribution in the field education and religious tolerance.